Monday, November 10, 2008

entering her single digits...

My good friend's daughter is turning ONE tomorrow...I can't even believe it:

pattern: double-breasted knit coat from Easy Baby Knits 6-12 mos. sizeyarn: Cascade 220 Quatro the heathers colour #9453, 2 skeins (ok, you know I just chose this yarn as my 80's homage to Heathers! hmmmm, I need to watch that again --it's been a while)needles: 5mm

Ah, the joys of knitting for someone so little --you can bust out an actual garment in no time flat with a real sense of accomplishment (she says as her wallis sweater languishes in a corner somewhere...). Sidebar: I've discovered that it is seriously counterproductive to try on a sweater when it is close to completion. My Wallis sweater literally only has the sides still to be seamed up. So what did I do this weekend? I . tried. it. on. Bad idea. The thing is freakin' enormous and now my desire to finish it after all these months was immediately quashed. yargh.

But this little beauty turned out great. As usual, the buttons were my biggest dilemma, and the thing sat finished awaiting those for several weeks.

I'm really of the button school of thought that buttons should pretty much disappear...hence the difficulty in finding a compatible purple. It really makes me crazy when I am on the hunt for a black cardigan and can only find ones with white buttons. What's up with that? But personal pet peeves aside, I'm happy with how it turned out in the end. Seaming was a bit of an issue, as the raglan shoulder seams are supposed to be seen on it as a bit of a "design element"--and that's easier said than done. I'm starting to think I could really benefit from some sort of seaming course. The problem with those is that they always want you to bring a finished piece that still needs to be seamed. When do those two realities ever synch up?

My other fear is that this jacket will also be too small. I knit the 6-12 month size as the next one up was seeming really big as I was knitting the back. AND I got the yarn out of a sale bin somewhere so knew I'd run out on the next size up. I knit the length and the arms a bit longer, but that's about all the mods there were. Guess I'll know this weekend if it fits...if it doesn't I will likely take it home and simply block the shit out of it.

Also getting the jump on some smaller "office" holiday presents:

These were fun and FAST.

I used mostly DK weight yarns...I'm fearful that some of my co-workers with bigger hands may not be able to get them on. I'm a terrible judge of this myself due to my own freakish child-sized hands. Did I mention in the end that we had to get my engagement ring sized to a THREE?! I'm still reeling from that one. But anyway...knit in the round so there would be no seam, and for the most part I cast on around 60 stitches, depending on what knit pattern I was going with. I just got the bangles from one of those cheap-o Ardene/Claire's type stores and then mattress-stitched them on length-wise. Easy peasy. Definitely plan to crank out more of those.

And for the men in the office? Something similarly small? A tie pin perhaps? Ok, maybe not.

Is anyone else having this issue where blogger is automatically cropping all your photos (regardless of what size you load them up at)? It's driving me crazy.

The sweater is gorgeous! And I really love those bracelets, seems somehow beyond my ability, although some quick Christmas gifts would be nice. The annoying thing about presents? Can't blog about them!And about the pictures, I have that same problem too, wish I could offer a solution!

Hi! I'm also making the double breasted knit coat, but I am doing the 24-36 month size. I am on the first buttonhole row and I have knit it twice now--only to end up with 31 sts instead of 39! I followed the instructions to the letter-- I've tried to find revisions for this matter but have had no luck. Any help?

strange, I knit the smallest size though and had no issues with it...maybe they forgot to make the changes when they re-worded it for the next size up? You could try asking one of the people on ravelry who have knit that size to see how they dealt with that issue. (sorry that wasn't very helpful of me, was it?)

About Me

You found my blog! This began as a pseudo website for Reckless Glue, and all of our crafty sales. Nowadays I'm strictly one half of that equation: Reckless Cara! (and it's become a bit of a catch-all blog for knitting and anything I deem crafty or design-related). I'm trying to keep it on point, so nothing gets too personal around here. Drop me an email if you have any questions... (Though be warned that I am sometmes slow to respond to the email address associated with this blog!)